Two killed, 10 hurt in Karachi violence

At least two persons were killed and 10 injured in violence in various parts of Karachi as miscreants set over dozen vehicles on fire.Heavy contingents of Police and Rangers have been deployed at sensitive points in the metropolis. In violent incidents in Liaquatabad, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Landhi, Teen Hatti, Garden, New Karachi, Shah Faisal Colony and Safoora Chowrangi, three persons were reported killed and 10 others wounded since last night. Over dozen vehicles have been set on fire in the city, which was resulted in scarcity of public transport vehicles at the roads and commuters facing problems to reach to their work place, schools and colleges on Saturday morning.D.G. Rangers Maj. Gen. Liaquat Ali said that Rangers have been deployed at sensitive places, key roads and thoroughfares for search of the suspect persons and vehicles.

Taliban start leaving Lower Dir areas

About 75 per cent of the militants has left the area

Taliban began pulling out of different areas in Adenzai tehsil of Lower Dir on Friday in accordance with an agreement reached with a local jirga.People in Tazagram and Asbanr said about 75 per cent of the militants had left the area by the afternoon. Taliban who had occupied several buildings in Asbanr started vacating them on Thursday night. Only a few militants were seen on the Gulabad-Asbanr road which they used to patrol earlier.‘It is not clear where they have gone. They may have crossed over to Swat from where they had come here last month,’ said Mohammad Israr of Gulabad. Meanwhile, people continued to face hardship because there has been no break in curfew for several days. The Chakdara and Gulabad bazaars have remained closed for 10 days.Local people called upon the government and military authorities to provide some relief to the people suffering from the curfew. People in Timergara, Khall and Jandol complained that they were facing a shortage of medicines, food and other essential items because of curfew in Chakdara and blockade of the Peshawar-Timergara road since May 11.They said the curfew should be lifted because the road was now clear of militants. Meanwhile, people in Maidan area complained that hundreds of their domestic and farm animals had been killed by shelling or because of shortage of water and food.Abdul Malik, who had returned to Maidan on Friday after leaving his family in another area, told Dawn that carcasses of cattle left by people had caused stench in villages.‘I saw dozens of cows, buffaloes and goats dead in the streets, fields and houses. Some of them had been hit by mortar shells and the others had starved to death,’ he said.Some people also complained that their houses had been robbed. A large number of people of Maidan work abroad and their families had locked their homes and left the area when the operation was launched on April 26.Local people demanded that the government should form a commission to assess the losses suffered by them so that they could be compensated.

Pakistani Military Shows Off Captured Taliban Base

A Pakistani flag now flies over army troops dug in on a strategic ridge that until two days ago was held by the Taliban, a base where militants trained fighters, built tunnels and equipped caves with electricity and air vents.The takeover of the highest Taliban stronghold in the Swat Valley by troops who stormed up its jagged, rubble-strewn slopes is evidence of the success of Pakistan's month-old army offensive. The action has been welcomed by the United States, which fears the nuclear-armed country is capitulating to the militants.But much of the region still remains in the hands of the militants, including Buner — a district just 60 miles from the capital Islamabad and the focus of intense air and ground operations in recent weeks, according to witnesses and police officers who spoke to an Associated Press reporter in its main town Friday.Several residents pointed to the mountains and warned that the Taliban were not far away.Police were still too frightened to enter parts of Buner and the town of Dagar, 12 miles away, which the military said was "liberated" from the Taliban."We have been destroyed by the Taliban," said white-bearded Ayub Khan, as army trucks rumbled past a ruined market and a charred gas station where a suicide bomber had killed four soldiers in the early days of the battle.

Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers, 1st Semi-Final

Deccan Chargers won by 6 wkts. DD again fall at the semi-final hurdle. But to be fair to them no attack in the world can stop a player like Gilly when he is playing like that. Gibbs departed early, but Gilly was on another planet as he plundered everyone to all corners of the ground. By the time he left only 52 were needed. Then after the break, Symonds also smashed a cameo to put the result beyond doubt. Then Suman and Rohit applied the finishing touches. HYD 154/4 (17.4 Ovs) | DEL 153/8 (20.0 Ovs)

Nadal handed tough path to fifth French Open title

World number one Rafael Nadal faces a treacherous task in his bid to win a fifth consecutive French Open title as he faces potential clashes with former world number one Lleyton Hewitt and Spanish compatriots David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco.Rafael Nadal's path to a record fifth successive French Open title was littered with pitfalls Friday when he was handed potential clashes with Lleyton Hewitt as well as Spanish compatriots David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco.Top seed Nadal will begin his campaign against a qualifier, but then could run straight into Australian former world number one Hewitt, who showed his claycourt ability in April when he won the Houston event.Nadal beat Hewitt in the fourth round here in 2005 and 2006.Claycourt specialist David Ferrer, twice a quarter-finalist, is a possible fourth round opponent with Verdasco, the eighth seed, a likely last eight rival.Second seed Roger Federer, still searching for an elusive Roland Garros title to add to his 13 majors, starts against Spain's Alberto Montanes with old American rival Andy Roddick seeded to face him in the last eight.

Aid Appeal As Thousands Flee Swat Valley

The UN has launched an emergency aid appeal for more than one and a half million people displaced by the war between the Taliban and Pakistan's army.Tented camps are being overwhelmed by thousands of new arrivals fleeing the fighting in the Swat Valley and surrounding regions in North Pakistan.The UN has estimated that it will need as much as £380m to deal with the tide of people.It has described the situation as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.The British Government has responded to the appeal by pledging £10m, in addition to another £12m given since November.A once a beautiful tourist destination, the remains of burnt-out trucks and cars now litter the main roads that link the major towns and cities in Swat valley.Overhead, helicopter gunships having been attacking Talibanpositions in the mountains and hills around Swat's capital, Mingora.The city streets are deserted but it is likely that tens of thousands of people are still there sheltering inside their homes.So far, the Pakistani military has concentrated on Taliban bases in the countryside, but it expects to move towards the capital in the coming days.The army's spokesman, Major-General Athar Abbas, said the plan is to control areas around the major cities to cut off any escape routes for Taliban fighters before the military moves in to engage them."Operations have now started in the cities and towns but before we were fighting in the countryside; this was deliberately planned, to hit them hard," he said.

Troops encircle Swat, cut off Taliban escape routes

 Mingora

Troops are encircling Taliban militants in their mountain base as well as the main town in the Swat Valley, a Pakistani general said on Friday.With scepticism growing about the progress of the month-old army offensive in the north-western region, the army flew a handful of reporters from foreign news organisations into Swat on Friday.An Associated Press reporter aboard the helicopter saw no cars and few people in the town of Mingora or on roads further up the valley.From the air, there was little evidence of the fierce fighting and air strikes that the military claims have already killed more than 1,000 militants as well as some 60 soldiers.But a senior commander insisted the army was trapping militants in Mingora and Peochar, a side-valley further north that is the stronghold of Swat Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah.‘The noose is tightening around them. Their routes of escape have been cut off,’ Maj. Gen. Sajad Ghani said.‘It’s just a question of time before (Taliban leaders) are eliminated.’Meanwhile, the head of the government relief operation, Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, said up to 200,000 civilians were stranded in the valley and authorities might have to drop food to them from the air.But Ahmed said ‘not many’ civilians were left in Mingora, with most people still in the valley in its northern reaches, which had been ‘relatively calm’.In a sign of growing hostility towards the Taliban among people long ambivalent, villagers in two north-western districts are trying to expel the gunmen, a politician and another official said.

Indian PM begins second term

Manmohan Singh has been sworn in as India's prime minister for a second five-year term.The ceremony took place on Friday at the presidential place in New Delhi, the capital.Singh was the governing Congress party's unanimous choice for the job after it won the recent general election.He swore to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution," and to "devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of India." "Singh is the only non-Gandhi to be re-elected after Jawaharlal Nehru [India's first prime minister] for a second term in office.

Sri Lanka street party celebrates end of civil war

The deafening roar of drums and horns rose as thousands of people took to the streets in Sri Lanka Friday for a victory parade marking the end of the decades-long civil war.Enthusiastic revelers danced in the street, carried yellow and red flags and some even carried hand-crafted puppets depicting the dead body of the leader of the rebel Tamil Tigers. Sri Lanka's government declared victory Tuesday in the country's 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels. The announcement brought celebrations to some parts of the country.President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been killed and local media released footage of the fallen leader's body.But while thousands partied Friday, humanitarian organizations worried about the estimated 250,000 refugees the war created in northeast Sri Lanka. Many have had their homes destroyed are struggling for food, clean water, emergency health kits, cooking pots and school supplies, relief agencies say. 

New credit card limitations in US

Credit card companies in the US will soon be bound by new restrictions on their ability to charge fees, or raise interest rates on existing borrowings.On Friday, President Barack Obama is signing a new law which will come into full effect next February.The changes have been described as "monumental and expensive" for the card companies to implement.The limits are deliberately aimed at preventing some people taking on too much personal debt."This cements a victory for every American consumer who has ever suffered at the hands of the credit card industry," said Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee.Americans currently owe nearly $1 trillion on their credit cards.The US government has been concerned to tighten its regulation of the banking system in the light of the credit crunch and banking crisis.

Mexico City lifts flu restrictions

Mexico City has dropped its five-level danger alert to green, the lowest level, signalling that schools, businesses, and transport could function as normal. Mexican authorities have lifted the official death toll from the flu to 78.Mexico's swine flu death toll rose by three Thursday to 78, as the capital lifted all restrictions imposed last month when the deadly virus first spread shock waves throughout the country.The A(H1N1) virus has infected 3,930 people in Mexico, according to a health ministry statement, adding that new cases were on the wane.Only seven of the 78 who died from A(H1N1) had showed symptoms of the virus after April 23, when authorities determined that they were dealing with a new virus, the ministry said.The official website for the country's sprawling capital meanwhile dropped its five-level alert to green, the lowest level, signaling that schools, businesses and transport could function as normal without extra health precautions.Most children returned to school last week across the country, while a handful of states with suspected cases waited until this week to reopen."We can calm down now," said Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard in a news conference Wednesday, just weeks after the city virtually shut down, including restaurants, cinemas and sports venues, in a bid to contain the spread of the flu.Mexico City's five-level alert scale descends from red to orange, amber, yellow and green.Officials already dropped the alert level Wednesday from amber to yellow, even as the flu death toll continued to slowly creep up -- mainly due to tests on a backlog of cases.More than 11,000 cases and 85 deaths have been recorded by the World Health Organization since the outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza emerged in Mexico and the United States.

Obama attacks Guantanamo 'mess'

Barack Obama has defended his decision to close the Guantanamo Bay US prison camp, saying it probably "created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained"."We're cleaning up something that is quite simply a mess," the US president said in Washington on Thursday, as he attempted to broker a consensus among officials who have rejected his plans to close Guantanamo."As commander-in-chief, I see the intelligence, I bare the responsibility of keeping this country safe and I categorically reject the assertion that these [the camp and military tribunal system] are the most effective ways of keeping this country safe," Obama said.The prison and the military tribunals were authorised by George Bush, his predecessor as US president, after the September 11, 2001, attacks.Obama stressed that efforts to reverse Bush-era policies such as Guantanamo had begun before he took office as president."In 2006, the supreme court invalidated the entire system," Obama said in his speech, delivered at the National Archives in Washington.

Deadly battles in Somali capital

At least seven people have been killed after Somali government forces launched an attack in an attempt to drive  opposition fighters from the capital, Mogadishu.Witnesses said at least four members of the al-Shabab armed group were among the dead as well as a journalist from Shabelle Radio, a local independent station in the clashes on Friday.Farhan Mahdi, a Somali military spokesman said: "This is a large military offensive against violent people."The government will sweep them out of the capital and the fighting will continue until that happens."The government has claimed that it has regained control of three areas of Mogadishu - Tarbunka, Bakara and Howlwadag - since the battles began before dawn.